WE owe her, too. For in her stubbornly old-fashioned way, Nancy Reagan is truly a maverick.

For three days, I’ve been watching Nancy, a woman I never particularly admired before, with a feeling of deep gratitude. And affection.

The profound sadness and steel with which the former first lady has carried herself, from her husband’s long illness to his death and all the way through his magnificent funeral, has touched my heart. Ronald Reagan saved the world and restored the American spirit. But Nancy loved him so. And for the former first lady, that was enough.

Nancy Reagan was a throwback to another age, and at the same time, a trend-setter. In the ’70s and ’80s, a time when women of my generation were going to law school, dipping their feet into politics, planning single pregnancies, burning their undergarments – and quietly griping about how lonely they felt – Nancy steadfastly held onto a role we rejected.

Nancy thought it a woman’s greatest accomplishment to stand behind a good man. To comfort and inspire him behind the scenes.

Nancy’s tears will haunt me forever. The sight of the physically frail widow being supported by her daughter, Patti. Tenderly kissing her husband’s coffin goodbye. When we judge the life of Ronald Reagan, we must look kindly on the woman who made him whole.